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Friday, October 14, 2011

Whey Cheese.

A few days ago I wrote briefly about whey, and was delighted
and honoured to receive some feedback from food writer Anne Mendelson. Anne is somewhat
of an expert on the topic, being the author of the marvellous book Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages.

Anne points out that ‘there are two broad
categories of whey: "sweet," or soured, depending on whether
the lactose in the original milk is still intact or has been converted to
lactic acid through bacterial fermentation.” She goes on to explain that the
lactose in milk is all contained in the whey, so "sweet" (that is, unsoured)
whey contains as much lactose as plain milk. If this sweet whey is boiled down
sufficiently, you end up with ‘a sort of caramelized fudge, with a grainy
consistency because the concentrated lactose forms rather large, sandy
crystals.’ This is, essentially the ‘whey cheese’ much beloved of Scandinavians.

The Book of Cheese
(1918) by Charles Thom explains the process of making ‘Norwegian whey cheese’ in
a little more detail. I can hardly imagine that the method has changed
significantly in the last hundred years, so I give you the description below:

Mysost, Norwegian whey cheese.

The whey contains
nearly 5 per cent of milk-sugar which can be recovered by boiling. The
Norwegian process which produces Mysost consists in raising the whey to the
boiling point, skimming off the albumin as it rises, then concentrating the
remainder of the whey. As it reaches sufficient concentration, the albumin is
thoroughly stirred back into the mass and the mass finally cooled into forms. Mysost
is a brown, hard brittle mass consisting principally of caramelized milk-sugar.
Analysis shows such percentage composition as follows: water 10 to 20 per cent,
protein 10 to 15 per cent, milk-sugar 30 to 55 per cent.

I had no
idea that whey was so versatile. We have already considered it as a refreshing
beverage, a useful bakery ingredient, and the source of‘candy’ and cheese. We must get around to
considering whey porridge, whey-whig, whey-brose, whey butter, whey wine, and
whey vinegar. Have I missed anything?

Quotation for the Day

To me, life
without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky
cheese is a life not worth living.

When I was 7 my family took a cruise on a Norwegian ship. I remember trying Gjetost (the goat version) and loving. The server was very impressed, and said most North Americans don't like it. Unfortunately, when I saw it again as an adult and bought it with happy expectations, I did indeed hate it. Goat flavoured fudge, nuh-uh. Yuck. On the other hand, it should fit right in with the modern trend of combining the sweet and salty.

Whey butter, I could eat all day and all night. Yum. It is THE butter.

Hi All, I am very belatedly catching up with your comments! Rachell - I have not heard of that particular combination.Hi Mei - good to have you here. I almost always drain yoghurt because I like it thick - wonder if the liquid draining from it would work the same way?Feerdzy - I have very mixed feelings about it myself, but I suspect that is because I have never had a really good example.